Chapter 5 - Iris

The smell of freshly cooked bacon wafted up the stairs, followed by the enticing sound of meat sizzling in the pan as I walked down the steps. When I walked into the kitchen, Alek was facing away from me, hovering over the stove.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey." Alek turned. He wasn't wearing a shirt. I stared, color creeping up my face. Every muscle looked as though it had been carved from stone, and I had an overwhelming urge to run my fingers up and down them. "You hungry?"

I blinked, pulling myself out of my reverie. "Yeah," I said. "Starving."

"In that case, food should be ready soon. Do you need coffee?"

"Do I need the nectar of the gods, you mean? Yes, absolutely."

Alek chuckled. "That's my kind of gal."

A few minutes and a cup and a half of coffee later, Alek and I were sitting at the kitchen table. It felt strange. I'd rarely eaten meals with Jason and Dad, preferring to avoid them as much as possible—after I'd cooked dinner, of course. Sitting down with Alek was strange, but at the same time, it felt natural. Feeling this comfortable with someone was a foreign sensation, one I hadn't anticipated. One I really liked.

"You seem in a better mood than yesterday," Alek hedged.

"I am," I admitted, grabbing a biscuit. I winced as the still-hot dough scalded my hand, hopping it from palm to palm before it cooled.

"So, does that mean you forgive me?" Alek asked.

"Don't get me wrong," I said, slathering jam on the biscuit. "I'm still furious with you. But I do prefer staying here than being stuck at home with my family."

I took a bit of the biscuit, savoring the raspberry flavor of the preserves. I wasn't going to add that the other reason I wasn't fully opposed to being here, despite the circumstances, was that I was glad to be around Alek again. I hadn't forgotten the chemistry and spark between us, even if it had been a few years. That pull of attraction toward him. Nothing had changed. I was constantly aware of how close he was to me, the way his muscles rippled with every motion.

He scratched his chin, his eyes not leaving mine. "You're welcome to stay here as long as you want," he said. "Though, if you tell me you want to go back to that hellhole, I don't know if I'll be able to go along with it. I know what I said yesterday, but it'd be hard for me to accept it."

He didn't know the half of it. I took another bite, looking down at the crumbs on my plate, biting my tongue so I wouldn't add more fuel to the fire. As long as he didn't ask what had happened when I'd vanished on him, it would be fine. I wasn't ready to talk about it yet.

"Let's worry about that in a couple of weeks," I said. "Everything is a little wonky at the moment, and I'm having a hard time sorting out my feelings."

"I understand." His hand went to mine, covering it.

The feel of his hand on mine was enough to make my heart thunder. I was certain he could hear it; it was so loud. My stomach clenched in excitement as I imagined what it would be like if I leaned forward and kissed him, whether things would pick up exactly where they had left off years ago. Based on the look Alek gave me and the way his grip tightened on my hand, tugging me gently toward him, he was imagining the same.

But just as I was about to close my eyes and let him kiss me, Alek frowned, his nostrils flaring. His eyes flew wide as he stiffened. His hand jerked away from mine with surprising rapidity.

"Fuck," he grumbled, his head swiveling toward the front door.

My brow furrowed. I wasn't sure what he was talking about or what was going on until a knock echoed through the house a moment later. It took a second to register that he was reacting to whoever was at the door, and another second to wonder how the hell he had known someone was there in the first place. Were his ears sensitive enough to hear someone walking up the path? I hadn't heard anything.

"What's—?" I began, but Alek cut me off.

"I'll be right back," he said, standing. "You stay here."

He stalked toward the front. I stared after him, frowning. I'd never seen him this angry before, and I couldn't imagine what could set him off like this. Beyond that, I had no intention of listening to his order. I wanted to know what had shaken him so much.

A moment of panic shot through me as I crept toward the front door. Was it Dad or Justin? Had they somehow tracked me here already? My eyes darted around the kitchen, looking for anything I could use as a weapon. Then I told myself not to be stupid. Based on how Alek had looked, he had known who it was. I had no idea how he would know it, but the fact stood that he definitely seemed to know. And if it were my family, he would have told me.

"What are you doing here?" I heard Alek ask.

"I wanted to talk," an unfamiliar voice said. But at the sound of the voice, an image flashed in my mind. I could picture him perfectly from his voice alone: tall, maybe a bit larger than Alek, with brown hair, a square jaw, and a broad forehead.

Muffled, raised voices, the words indiscernible from this distance beyond their obvious fury, filtered in from outside. My curiosity got the better of me, and I crept toward the entryway. The door opened and closed, and by the time I peered through the door, there was no one there.

I blinked as the bright light beamed through the tree leaves when I stepped outside. Normally, I would expect to hear birds and rustling wind, insects buzzing, and other sounds of summer. But they were all drowned out by angry voices.

"I told you to leave it," Alek said, his back toward me. He and another man stood at the bottom of the path up the hill. They seemed too preoccupied with arguing to notice me. The other man was even larger than Alek, and just as muscular. My mouth dropped open. I'd been nearly dead-on with the picture I'd formed in my head from his voice, right down to the coldness on his features. Spiders crawled up my spine.

"And I told you that you're making a huge mistake right now. Have you told her yet?" the other man asked. His folded arms made his muscles bulge even more.

Told me what? But whatever Alek was supposed to have told me, he didn't say. I could see his back stiffen, and the other man shook his head.

"You can't actually expect her to stay once she knows," he said. "Her kind are all alike."

My kind?Did he mean from a small village? But my gut told me it was something else, even if I had no idea what it might be. My heart thudded so loud that I was surprised it wasn't drowning out the increasingly heated argument. I took an unconscious step forward.

"You don't know her like I do," Alek said, and I could sense the anger bubbling just below the surface.

I stepped on a twig. It barely made a sound, but both men stopped talking, their heads swiveling toward me. Alek's eyes filled with alarm, his face a mixture of unease and anger. The other man looked me up and down, his sneer growing every minute.

"Iris," Alek said. "Get back inside."

The other man laughed. "No, stay," he called to me. "I've got something to show you."

"Dan—" Alek began.

"No. She should know what she's getting into, staying here."

"Iris." Alek's head spun back toward me. "Go back now."

Part of me was rooted to the spot, but the other part wanted to listen to Alek. Something about the way the other man—Dan—was looking at me made my skin crawl and made me want to run as far away as possible.

Before I could order my legs to move, there was a snarl, and Dan crouched to the ground. At first, I thought he was having a seizure or something similar. But a moment later, I nearly screamed. And I would have if it weren't for the fact that my voice had stopped working out of sheer horror.

One moment, Dan had been standing next to Alek. The next, a wolf, larger than any I had ever seen with fur the exact brown shade of Dan's hair, was in his place. His eyes glittered as he bared his fangs, snarling as he took a step toward me, looking as though he was about to lunge.

"No!" Alek yelled, and he moved in front of the wolf man. I was going to yell at him not to do something that stupid. Except for a split-second later, Alek wasn't there anymore, and a giant red-furred wolf was in his place. He put himself between me and the other wolf, growling low, his hackles raised.

I stumbled backward, nearly tripping over myself and falling on my ass. But I managed to right myself just in time, and I spun on my heels and raced into the woods. I could swear I heard a bark of laughter and a responding snarl as I tore through the bramble, but I didn't look back.

My mind was racing. Alek was one of the wolf men my village had warned me about. A vicious, cold-blooded killer who didn't care about humans and would kill them whenever they saw fit. The other one—Dan—was certainly that, too. I'd seen the way he had started to lunge toward me. I'd seen his teeth. They could tear through me in seconds.

And Alek had brought me into this world.

What was more, he hadn't told me what he was. He'd kept it from me. Why? What had been his end goal? To eat me?

The thought would have been absurd an hour ago, but now…

He'd kidnapped me, just like my brother and father had warned me the wolf men would do. What else had they been telling the truth about?

I had to get back. I had to get away.

My heart thundered as my mind went blank with terror. I pushed through the brush and wove through trees, trying to make my trail as erratic and unpredictable as possible. My panting filled my ears, the only sound I could focus on without collapsing in fear.

Tears stung my eyes as I kept running, the hurt of betrayal creeping through the edges of the fear. My trembling legs threatened to give way beneath me, but I kept running. I had no idea where I was even going. I would figure that out after I got out of wolf territory.

But then, the horrifying sound of something large crashing through the bramble behind me pierced through the sound of my own breathing. Oh, god. I saw the brown-furred wolf in my head, certain he was following me, that he would pounce on me from behind and tear me to shreds.

"Iris—" a voice yelled after me. It was Alek. I would have wondered how he'd managed to catch up to me, but if he could turn into a wolf, that answered my question.

"Iris, wait—"

But I didn't listen. I kept running.

"Shit, Iris—"

I pushed myself to run faster, kicking up dirt behind me with every step.

A hand grabbed my shoulder, pulling me down to the ground. I screamed as I hit the dirt. Strong hands spun me around so I was on my back, and Alek's face loomed over me. He pinned my arms over my head as I writhed. He straddled me as he leaned over me, his legs pinning mine in place.

"Iris." His brown eyes were wide and pleading. Strands of red hair were plastered to his forehead.

"Let go of me," I hissed, but it was useless. I was trapped beneath him until he decided otherwise.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Alek said gently. "I'm sorry you found out this way. It wasn't how I wanted to tell you."

"You're one of them," I said, my voice cracking. "A wolf man."

He grimaced. "Shifter," he corrected. "But yes."

"And you didn't tell me."

It felt bizarre that we were having this conversation as he continued pinning me to the ground. What was more bizarre was the fact that a fire seemed to have ignited between my legs, and I was painfully aware of every inch of him. He was shirtless, and his torso was perfectly toned, defined even more by the sweat glistening there. And he smelled good. He should have reeked of sweat, but all I could smell was something like musk and leather that was more appealing than it had any right to be.

But that didn't stop the fear and anxiety racing through me. He was a wolf man—a shifter. I'd heard stories about them since I was a kid. How they abducted women and kids, either for sex or to eat, depending on the story. And here I was, trapped beneath one of them.

"I didn't," he admitted. "And I'm sorry. Just give me a chance to explain."

"Fuck that." I squirmed, trying to get out of his grasp again and failing. "Let me go."

"I can't," he said. "Not until you listen. I'm not going to hurt you. I promise."

I slumped, my body relaxing beneath his. "Fine," I spat. "But let me up first."

Alek breathed a sigh of relief and stood. He held his hand out to me, but I didn't take it. Instead, the instant I got to my feet, I bolted again.

I had barely gotten twenty feet away when his hand closed around my wrist.

"Seriously?" he said, pulling me back toward him. There was a mixture of amusement and exasperation on his face. "I mean, I completely respect you trying to trick me like that, but you couldn't actually think I'd fall for it, right?"

I tried pulling my hand from his grip, but it was pointless. I sighed. "It was worth a shot," I muttered. The tension still hadn't left my body, and just him holding my wrist was enough to send me into a spiral of panic.

He must have sensed it because he cupped my cheek and turned my head so I was facing him. It took a long moment for me to look him in the eyes. When I did, it was impossible not to see the sincerity there.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said. "I promise."

"Then let me go."

He shook his head. "Not until I explain."

"What's there to explain? You're a shifter. End of story."

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Either you come with me, or I carry you back like I did the first time, all right?"

My jaw clenched, but I could tell by the expression on his face that he wasn't lying. "All right," I said.

Alek nodded, but he didn't let go of my wrist as he led me back through the woods. I hadn't realized how close I was to the house until we emerged a couple of minutes later. I hadn't gotten particularly far.

"Sit down," Alek ordered. "Let me get you some water."

I sat. My eyes locked on the door, trying to gauge the distance. If I got enough of a head start, I might be able to make a break for it. He turned to see where I was staring and sighed. "Do I need to tie you up?" he asked. "Because I will. Even if I didn't, I'd be able to catch you before you got far."

I sighed, then shook my head in frustration even as my legs twitched, yearning to run away from the wolf man, though I knew there was no way I would get anywhere. And even if I could, where would I go?

I guess the stories about wolf men kidnapping women in the woods had more merit than I thought, I thought, stifling a hysterical laugh.

I was torn. I'd trusted Alek and always felt safe around him, felt that he would never hurt me. And even though he'd been lying to me the whole time and I'd finally learned his secret, even though I'd heard horror stories of wolf men my entire life and had grown up frightened of them, I couldn't help but still trust him. Somehow, despite my terror, I felt like he wouldn't hurt me. He'd protected me from the other wolf, after all. I was furious at him for lying to me, for keeping this massive secret from me for all these years. And yet, even though I should be frightened, I wasn't. Or at least, not of him.

A glass of water materialized in front of my face, and I took it. "Thanks." I downed it in seconds. I hadn't realized how thirsty I was.

"Of course." Alek stood awkwardly in front of me, clearly nervous. I fumbled for something to say, my mind still reeling from the revelation that he was the stuff of children's horror stories.

I glanced down, then blinked. "Do you…shift…in sweatpants?" I asked.

Alek looked down at the gray sweatpants and gave a short bark of laughter. "No," he said. "I took just enough time to throw on sweatpants before coming after you. We don't keep our clothes when we shift, and I figured you would prefer me not to be naked when I chased you down."

I laughed, even as the image of Alek's naked body floated up to the front of my mind. "I mean, I didn't mind it the first time I saw it," I said before I could think any better of it.

Alek raised an eyebrow. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"So what now?" I finally asked, my heart still pounding. The smile on Alek's face vanished in an instant.

"I don't know," he admitted.

I shuddered, suddenly wanting to curl in on myself and hide away. Everything was happening too fast. How was I supposed to just accept this?

But it's Alek, I reminded myself. And it was true. Even if he had kept this from me, I knew, deep down, that he was the same person I'd met all those years ago.

I sighed, running my fingers through my hair as I tried to come to terms with everything happening. "I'm going to go upstairs," I said. "Just give me a bit of time, all right?"

"Iris…" Alek began but then fell quiet at the expression on my face. He sighed. "All right. I'm here when you want to talk."

"Yeah." But I wasn't sure when that was going to be.

I hurried up the stairs, and the entire time, I could feel Alek's eyes on me.